Ex-communist Europe

Czech realpolitik

No more Mr Nice Guy

FOR two decades, Czech foreign policy bore the influence of the country's first democratic president, the late Václav Havel. A Communist-era dissident and political prisoner, Havel preferred to stand up for dictators' victims regardless of the economic costs. But his influence seems to be waning. In recent remarks the Czech prime minister, Petr Nečas, said that paying attention to two human-rights causes célèbres, Pussy Riot and the Dalai Lama, was a costly distraction.

He was speaking at an important engineering trade fair in Brno, where exhibitors included Russian and Chinese firms.

"We have to prevent some fashionable political expressions that ... have consequences for our exports," Mr Nečas said. "The artificial and false adoration of issues such as the Russian band Pussy Riot, something that is the peak of bad taste, and certainly not something that stands for freedom and democracy. Nevertheless, some politicians get carried away by this fashionable trend, and that has consequences for this export territory."

In 1990, Mr Havel gave a huge boost to the Tibetan cause, by being the first head of state (of the then Czechoslovakia) to receive the Dalai Lama officially. But Mr Nečas said that that if the Dalai Lama returned to power, the result would not be democratic rule in Tibet but would be a regime of "semi-feudal, theocratic character with strong authoritarian components."

The premier's words left many dumbstruck. After all this is a country where hundreds of town halls, including those led by mayors for Mr Nečas's centre-right Civic Democratic Party, fly a Tibetan flag every March to show support to the Tibetan cause. While the Communists were eager to back the prime minister's stance, the Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg, who once worked for Mr Havel, told the Lidové noviny daily that the remarks were "a slip up. But a horrifying one!"

"I am terrified by it....On the issue of Tibet [the speech] adopts Chinese propaganda…This statement is a salute to the regime. And I still hope that no Czech foreign minister will ever bow his head before great powers when human rights are concerned."

The motivation for Mr Nečas's remarks is unclear. More than 80% of Czech exports go to the European Union; China and Russia combined account for less than 5%. The robust record on human rights seems to have done no harm either: exports to both countries have been rising. "Support for Pussy Riot or the Dalai Lama will certainly not hurt Czech exports because we are focussed on a different territory," Jiří Grund, the head of the Association of Exporters, told the news website lidovky.cz.

As the Mladá fronta Dnes daily noted, Mr Nečas did sound a bit like Mr Havel's successor as president, the notoriously iconoclastic and abrasive Václav Klaus. Indeed the term "Dalai Lama-ism", unknown to the Czech language, was probably coined by Mr Klaus's aide, Petr Hájek.

The president, who founded the party now led by Mr Nečas, has long been a rare pro-Kremlin voice in the Czech Republic. The party's previous leader and premier, Mirek Topolánek, was an ardent Atlanticist. He also met the Dalai Lama privately during the Tibetan leader's visit to Prague in 2008.

So Mr Nečas's speech may have had less to do with foreign policy than with mending fences with Mr Klaus, who retains a strong influence over the Civic Democrats but has attacked the government's planned tax rises (part of its deficit-cutting plan). Prior to this speech, Mr Nečas also publicly apologised to Klaus for some of his earlier remarks, in which he scolded the tax hike critics. (He said in August that any retreat from the plan to raise value added tax was on "the verge of political and economic imbecility".)

Having failed to get a bill on that through parliament when six of his lawmakers defected, Mr Nečas has sent it back to the chamber but this time tied to a confidence vote. Support from Mr Klaus could be crucial in helping him keep his job.

The tactic may succeed but Mr Nečas's harsh words against the beleaguered Russian democrats and Tibetans is attracting scathing criticism. The Respekt weekly likened his behaviour to that of "the careerists" who entered the Communist Party during "normalisation", the gloomy period of moral surrender after the Soviet-led invasion of 1968. People argued "if I don't take [the job] someone worse will," wrote the columnist Jan Macháček. "But, by entering the party, a person became a Communist. Nečas also became something...the question is what to call it."

Readers' comments

I am not surprised. Nečas has always been very light on any thoughts of deeper moral dimensions in politics, both domestic and foreign. He is politically and economically pragmatic, cynical even, so I'd be more astonished if he suddenly turned into an ardent defender of human rights abroad. I am just glad that there are people like Mr. Schwarzenberg who continue to carry Havel's torch and serve as the moral conscience of this government.

What's really surprising is that the Russian trojan horse from the Castle - Klaus has been systematically working to make his government's life as difficult as possible. Why all of a sudden Necas chooses make such a spineless U-turn and start to tow the same line as Klaus, whose spinelesness and love for dictators like Putin and Balkan butchers like Milosevic has been well documented.

Apparently, The Economist believes only Western European governments should be allowed to engage in realpolitik. Those more to the east should be cuddly in appearance, emollient in demeanour, and accommodating when it comes to conflicts of interest.

Not in this case, TE is just giving a voice to the opinion many Czechs share. I don't care if Western European heads of government want to appease dictators and totalitarian oppressors, it's their business (at least until the EU finally manages to forge a coherent unified foreign policy), but I expect much, much more from our own government. This country's modern statehood is based on overcoming totalitarianism, and we must *never* forget about that. If we lose a few (corruption laden) deals with Russia and China because of our principled stance, so be it.
At the risk of sounding messianic, perhaps if small countries like us show that you needn't be afraid of the likes of Putin, the bigger democratic countries will be shamed into adopting a similar position.

That sounds attractive, but if two decades of this sort of idealism has not delivered, why would it do now? Greece, in particular, has been eye-opening about the "morality" the powerful in Europe practice, and it is - or was - an EU member state.

Let France, Germany or the UK cut trade relations with China, send the Russian ambassador packing, and swear off Saudi oil first. After that, maybe. But it would be better to be prosperous and secure first.

Dalai clique has broken the Buddhism doctrines
We all know that there is a basic Buddhism doctrine -- not to kill. To kill others and also oneself is forbidden. Dalai clique, who incited the youngsters to self-immolate, has broken the lines. Though In the Buddhists' eyes, the Dalai Lama is their spiritual leader, he did not always stand on the side of Buddhism. However, if he insisted abusing his spiritual status, he must pay for it.

The so-called “independence” is just Lama Dalai’s religious fraud
As to the series of self-immolations in Aba Tibetan, some confused people think it is the fight for the “independence”. However, there is few local people who will agree with it. The one who did not value disciples’ lives would not be a good leader by all means. He just wants to please those who have strong prejudice towards China and Chinese government.

The immolators were fooled by Dalai Clique
Committing suicide or goading others to do so violates Buddhist tenets of mercy and compassion. These self-immolations were due to others' incitement, instigation and coercion, according to the Buddhist master, who advised followers to "discern good and evil." Paradoxically, no God wants people hurt themselves, just devil does.
Dalai Clique fooled the innocent youngsters to sacrifice them, he himself must be abandoned by angry principles one day.